Round 1: Blue Tron (2-1) - (1-0)
G1 - Saw a turn 1 Tower followed by at turn 2 Island and immediately switched to the Burn plan. Managed to get him to single digit life while killing off his annoying Treasure Mages and Thoughtseizing his Sundering Titan, but I was stuck on 3 lands for a while and couldn't cast Kalitas or Nahiri. Saw no Ghost Quarter for his Academy Ruins and eventually lost to a Slaver lock.
G2 - IN: 2x Stony Silence, 1x Slaughter Games, 1x Hide//Seek, 2x Crumble to Dust. Out: 4x Path to Exile, 1x Terminate, 1x Damnation. Turn 1 Inquisition to take a Squelch, followed by Turn 2 Seek to take his Sundering Titan. Lots of Burn and Lingering Souls got me there while he flooded out on Islands and never found natural Tron.
G3 - Early Ghost Quarter on a Tron piece followed by a turn 5 Crumble on Tower sealed it while I pumped out 3x Lingering Souls.
Round 2: Grixis Delver (1-2) - (1-1)
G1 - Answered his threats 1 for 1 with removal for a while, then he stuck a Young Pyromancer with counter backup to protect it. Lingering Souls protected Lili for a few turns, but he kept pace with Pyro tokens. I found a 4th land and stuck Nahiri to help dig for more removal, but he stuck a Tasigur to deal with Nahiri followed by a second Tasigur when I pathed the first. A desperate play of Painful Truths for 3 to try to draw into more removal put me into lethal range of an alpha strike of tokens and Tasigur.
G2 - IN: 2x Anger of the Gods, 1x Blood Baron, 1x Celestial Purge. OUT: 1 Dreadbore, 2x Thoughtseize, 1x Damnation. I was able to answer his creatures with removal long enough to stick and protect a Nahiri. My lingering Souls were met with Forked Bolts repeatedly and didn't do much. Emrakul and Shambling Vent swung in for near-lethal with Helix to finish the job.
G3 - Once again, my removal kills off his Delvers while his Forked Bolts kill off my Souls. I stick Liliana and start discarding more Souls for value. The Spirits get most of the way there, pushing him to 4 while his Tasigur got me down to 7 and some snapcaster shenanigans kill off Lili. With 6 land in play, and a Painful Truths in hand, I have the choice to keep mana up for Shambling Vents as a blocker along with my single untapped spirit token, or cast the Truths to try to find removal for his threat and possibly some additional gas in case he finds an answer to my token swarm. I chose to Truths, putting me at 4 with a spirit token to block. Truths finds lands, and I've already made my drop for the turn, so no Shambling for me. He finds a Terminate to nuke my Spirit blocker and swings in for exactly lethal.
Round 3: GB Elves (0-2) - (1-2)
G1 - He goes wide and pumps out more dudes than I can spot remove. I never find Damnation before he swarms me.
G2 - IN: 2x Anger of the Gods. OUT: 2x Thoughtseize. I keep an opener with Bolt, Anger, and Souls. He plays smart and only drops 2-3 dudes on the table at a time. I spot remove what I can and keep souls up as blockers hoping to Planswalker my way through the long game. I'm able to wipe the board twice, but he rebuilds and drops Elf Gary (can't remember it's name) to shoot me with 3 life loss each time. I stablilize with man-lands at 5 life, ready to Anger away his board and start swinging in with Vents, but he has Company and chord in hand. Company hits the Gray Merchant elf and the elf that brings a token with him, shooting me for exactly lethal.
Round 4: Affinity (2-1) - (2-2)
G1 - Turn 1 Inquisition lets me take his ravager, leaving him with 2x Overseer and the Vault Skirge he played. My two Bolts deal with Overseers as they land, my Souls take down Skirge and Signal Pest, and a Toughtseize on turn 4 takes his Etched Champion before he can find the 3rd mana to cast it. Empty hand and board, he scoops.
G2 - IN: 2x Stony Silence, 2x Anger of the Gods. OUT: 2x Thoughtseize, 1x Dreadbore, 1x Terminate. He gets a much faster start but I keep it held down with spot removal. He sticks a plating and I'm out of kill spells. An Inkmoth with double plating eventually gets through.
G3 - IN: 1x Celestial Purge, 1x Crackling doom. OUT: 2x Liliana. Turn 1 Path his Signal Pest, Turn 2 Stony, Turn 3 Anger to wipe his board leaves him with a useless Mox and an Island. He starts finding Inkmoths faster than I can find removal for them, but Kalitas gets in doing work for me. A couple of Ghost Quarters then a Crackling Doom take down his Inkmoths and let Kalitas finish the job.
All in all, not terrible. I can't really blame the deck for my losses. I definitely had some misplays during the Delver match, and I feel like I chose some incorrect lines against the Elf player. I do feel like the sideboard needs work. I'm also considering whether adding Ajani Vengeant, Gideon, or Elspeth to the list could be helpful for more finishers. If anything, I feel like the deck controls well, but is too light on ways to close the game.
Those of you running Blood Baron in your SB, what matchups do you bring it in for? I know it's a solid beater that doesn't die to basically any removal in the format, but which specific times is it better than Kalitas or other control elements?
Also, has anyone thought about Obzedat in main or board as an alternate Nahiri target?
Mulligans are sometimes rough. There aren't many dead hands, as even if a hand is all mana rocks and land, you're drawing live into must-answer threats a lot of the time. Hands with no Sol land and no chalice are pretty much garbage, since it's turn 3 before anything useful can happen.
As far as draw, I haven't felt like I needed much more. Strix replaces itself, baby Tezz and Jace draw/filter nicely when they stick. Transmute and big Tezz tutor for what you need.
Games do come down to top decking, but usually by that point, you're top decking must-answer after must-answer. Once something gets through, you're back in business.
Sleeved it up and took it to a local Legacy day. Only had 6 players show, so couldn't get it sanctioned, but it gave me a day of playtesting.
Pre-event
Test game against Shardless. He mulled to 5, but kept a hand with T1 discard. I kept a hand with fast mana, a Sword, Blue Tezz, and a Transmute. His T1 Duress ate my Transmute, and his subsequent Hymn took my Tezz. He attritioned me out slowly. Didn't finish the game, but an active Jace with Decay backup is tough to fight through.
Round 1
vs. 8-Rack
Game 1 I stick a T1 chalice on 1 and he gets sad. Draw lots of mana for a few turns, then stick thopter sword and he scoops when the 10th token hits the table. Game 2 I don't know what he's on other than Swamps, so I board in some GY hate. I start with a Leyline on turn Zero. He hits me Hith a Duress and takes my Chalice. He poxes away both of our landbases and hands, but I win the topdeck game and get enough mana-rocks to stick Blue Tezz and fetch Helm for the win.
(1-0)
Round 2
vs. ANT
Game 1 he Discards my Chalice turn 1. I don't draw into any more hate before he can storm out on turn 3.
Game 2 I mull to 5, keeping mana rocks and a Tezz Seeker. I topdeck a quick Chalice on 1 to slow him down a few turns, then cast a Chalice for 0 and stick Tezz to fetch 3Sphere. I think I'm set to start slowly grabbing combo pieces, but he's able to Decay 3Sphere and Chalice on 1 next turn. He Storms before I can rebuild defenses.
(1-1)
Round 3
vs. Storm
Game 1 I T1 Chalice on 1, then T2 Sword and T3 Transmute into Foundry. Not sure which storm variant he's on, so I just board in 3Sphere and Lodestone, with Leyline Helm to get around Past in Flames.
Game 2 I T1 Chalice, then natural draw T2 Sword and T3 Lodestone. In a few turns, I find a Foundry and he scoops.
(2-1)
All in all, happy with the day. Feel a little bad losing to ANT, but sometimes Decay ruins your day. I'm liking how the deck runs so far, and excited to see how it does in a wider meta. Definitely need to figure out a plan for Shardless... gonna be adding The Abyss to the sideboard when I can afford one or two.
Anticipate doesn't draw cards to trigger Tutelage. Dig Through Time is playable, because it reaches deep enough into the deck that the not-a-draw isn't awful. Anticipate does not.
Admittedly, I haven't read all of the posts. Also, I come at this as a player who stuck it out through a TERRIBLE game shop for 2 years to avoid the hour drive to the next closest shop. Recently, I moved to a new state, and found two shops which are both really good, although for different reasons. (also, a disclaimer: I'm a Judge, so TO interactions go a long way with me)
In no particular order...
1. Be clean, un-cluttered, and set up for games. I came to play, I shouldn't have to go find a table from a stack in the corner and set it up myself. That should all be ready before the doors are unlocked.
2. Clean functional bathroom.
3. Easy access to inventory. I want to know what you have so that I can buy it. I'm fine with looking through boxes or binders, but have some organization to it beyond "here's the boxes of Magic singles... they're not sorted at all."
4. Working Climate Control. Granted, in a small shop, if there are a lot of people, it gets hot. That's fine. But the AC should at least be trying to keep up.
5. Have multiple event formats. I don't like to draft. If every event you hold is Limited, I won't be playing in your events and you've lost my dollars.
6. Listen to your players. Your players pay your bills. If they indicate that they want to try Modern, give Modern a run for a few weeks and see if it sticks. If they request more Sealed, try that. If players complain about entry fees, compromise by lowering fees, but reducing prize support. Find what your players want, and give it to them. They'll keep coming back.
7. FURNITURE!!! It's part of the cost of business. You will need tables and chairs. They will need to hold the weight of players. They will wear out and break. They will need to be replaced. REPLACE THEM.
8. Treat your Judges fairly. If you can manage to get a staff member to become a Judge, Great! If you sign on "freelance" judges, awesome! Either way, treat them fairly. Compensate them for their time. 3 packs payment for running your 30 player midnight pre-release and not playing is not adequate reimbursement for their time.
9. Have a calendar, stick to it, update it, and make it public. Online is probably best, but in some way make it evident what is happening and when.
10. If you start running competitive REL events (PPTQs, IQs, etc.), communicate with your local judges BEFORE setting a date. Especially in areas where L2 judges are in short supply, scheduling a PPTQ only to find that you can't get a judge for that weekend is asking for disaster.
11. Once you announce prize support for an event, stick to it. If the prizes are in product, make sure you have that much product on hand, set aside so it's not sold. If it's for Cash (SCG IQs, etc.), set aside cash in the office somewhere that your employees can't accidentally use it for purchasing cards for your buylist.
12. Either have access to food inside the shop (snack bar) or find a location with easy access to quick meals.
I have more, but I feel like this is starting to get rant-y, and I don't want that. I'm sure you've gotten more suggestions above that I'd be repeating.
Best of luck with your venture. It's always exciting when a new shop comes to town.
Not so much as a replacement for Bob, more as a placeholder until I can get a 2nd Bob. That was what I was trying to say.
I'm not saying that's how the deck should be built. I was answering the above poster to whether Bob is NECESSARY. Which, I still feel, he isn't. But he's definitely good and a better option than many other cards that could take that slot.
Anyway... back to actual constructive things about the deck itself. I'm still debating whether Vault of the Archangel is useful in the Mardu build.
Play Skuller, then sac him with his first ability on the stack. The second ability (return it to their hand) will resolve before you exile anything. Then, the first ability will resolve and you'll exile the card permanently.
With Butcher out, it's basically a 2 mana "give Butcher Lifelink, exile a card from opponent's hand" sorcery.
3x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Godless Shrine
1x Mountain
1x Needle Spires
2x Plains
3x Sacred Foundry
3x Shambling Vent
2x Swamp
2x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
Sorcery (14)
1x Damnation
1x Dreadbore
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Lingering Souls
2x Painful Truths
2x Thoughtseize
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
1x Terminate
Planeswalker (6)
2x Liliana of the Veil
4x Nahiri, the Harbinger
Creature (3)
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1x Celestial Purge
1x Crackling Doom
2x Crumble to Dust
1x Hide//Seek
3x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Rest in Peace
1x Slaughter Games
2x Stony Silence
Round 1: Blue Tron (2-1) - (1-0)
G1 - Saw a turn 1 Tower followed by at turn 2 Island and immediately switched to the Burn plan. Managed to get him to single digit life while killing off his annoying Treasure Mages and Thoughtseizing his Sundering Titan, but I was stuck on 3 lands for a while and couldn't cast Kalitas or Nahiri. Saw no Ghost Quarter for his Academy Ruins and eventually lost to a Slaver lock.
G2 - IN: 2x Stony Silence, 1x Slaughter Games, 1x Hide//Seek, 2x Crumble to Dust. Out: 4x Path to Exile, 1x Terminate, 1x Damnation. Turn 1 Inquisition to take a Squelch, followed by Turn 2 Seek to take his Sundering Titan. Lots of Burn and Lingering Souls got me there while he flooded out on Islands and never found natural Tron.
G3 - Early Ghost Quarter on a Tron piece followed by a turn 5 Crumble on Tower sealed it while I pumped out 3x Lingering Souls.
Round 2: Grixis Delver (1-2) - (1-1)
G1 - Answered his threats 1 for 1 with removal for a while, then he stuck a Young Pyromancer with counter backup to protect it. Lingering Souls protected Lili for a few turns, but he kept pace with Pyro tokens. I found a 4th land and stuck Nahiri to help dig for more removal, but he stuck a Tasigur to deal with Nahiri followed by a second Tasigur when I pathed the first. A desperate play of Painful Truths for 3 to try to draw into more removal put me into lethal range of an alpha strike of tokens and Tasigur.
G2 - IN: 2x Anger of the Gods, 1x Blood Baron, 1x Celestial Purge. OUT: 1 Dreadbore, 2x Thoughtseize, 1x Damnation. I was able to answer his creatures with removal long enough to stick and protect a Nahiri. My lingering Souls were met with Forked Bolts repeatedly and didn't do much. Emrakul and Shambling Vent swung in for near-lethal with Helix to finish the job.
G3 - Once again, my removal kills off his Delvers while his Forked Bolts kill off my Souls. I stick Liliana and start discarding more Souls for value. The Spirits get most of the way there, pushing him to 4 while his Tasigur got me down to 7 and some snapcaster shenanigans kill off Lili. With 6 land in play, and a Painful Truths in hand, I have the choice to keep mana up for Shambling Vents as a blocker along with my single untapped spirit token, or cast the Truths to try to find removal for his threat and possibly some additional gas in case he finds an answer to my token swarm. I chose to Truths, putting me at 4 with a spirit token to block. Truths finds lands, and I've already made my drop for the turn, so no Shambling for me. He finds a Terminate to nuke my Spirit blocker and swings in for exactly lethal.
Round 3: GB Elves (0-2) - (1-2)
G1 - He goes wide and pumps out more dudes than I can spot remove. I never find Damnation before he swarms me.
G2 - IN: 2x Anger of the Gods. OUT: 2x Thoughtseize. I keep an opener with Bolt, Anger, and Souls. He plays smart and only drops 2-3 dudes on the table at a time. I spot remove what I can and keep souls up as blockers hoping to Planswalker my way through the long game. I'm able to wipe the board twice, but he rebuilds and drops Elf Gary (can't remember it's name) to shoot me with 3 life loss each time. I stablilize with man-lands at 5 life, ready to Anger away his board and start swinging in with Vents, but he has Company and chord in hand. Company hits the Gray Merchant elf and the elf that brings a token with him, shooting me for exactly lethal.
Round 4: Affinity (2-1) - (2-2)
G1 - Turn 1 Inquisition lets me take his ravager, leaving him with 2x Overseer and the Vault Skirge he played. My two Bolts deal with Overseers as they land, my Souls take down Skirge and Signal Pest, and a Toughtseize on turn 4 takes his Etched Champion before he can find the 3rd mana to cast it. Empty hand and board, he scoops.
G2 - IN: 2x Stony Silence, 2x Anger of the Gods. OUT: 2x Thoughtseize, 1x Dreadbore, 1x Terminate. He gets a much faster start but I keep it held down with spot removal. He sticks a plating and I'm out of kill spells. An Inkmoth with double plating eventually gets through.
G3 - IN: 1x Celestial Purge, 1x Crackling doom. OUT: 2x Liliana. Turn 1 Path his Signal Pest, Turn 2 Stony, Turn 3 Anger to wipe his board leaves him with a useless Mox and an Island. He starts finding Inkmoths faster than I can find removal for them, but Kalitas gets in doing work for me. A couple of Ghost Quarters then a Crackling Doom take down his Inkmoths and let Kalitas finish the job.
All in all, not terrible. I can't really blame the deck for my losses. I definitely had some misplays during the Delver match, and I feel like I chose some incorrect lines against the Elf player. I do feel like the sideboard needs work. I'm also considering whether adding Ajani Vengeant, Gideon, or Elspeth to the list could be helpful for more finishers. If anything, I feel like the deck controls well, but is too light on ways to close the game.
Also, has anyone thought about Obzedat in main or board as an alternate Nahiri target?
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=103782
Thopter Foundry makes Blue Thopter Tokens. All is Dust is still probably too expensive, but it does hit Thopters from Foundry.
As far as draw, I haven't felt like I needed much more. Strix replaces itself, baby Tezz and Jace draw/filter nicely when they stick. Transmute and big Tezz tutor for what you need.
Games do come down to top decking, but usually by that point, you're top decking must-answer after must-answer. Once something gets through, you're back in business.
1 Academy Ruins
3 Underground Sea
3 Wasteland
4 Polluted Delta
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
1 Seat of the Synod
Creatures:
4 Baleful Strix
Planeswalkers:
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Tezzeret the seeker
1 Jace, the mind sculptor
4 Dimir Signet
2 Talisman of Dominance
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Proginitus
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Ensnaring Bridge
Spells:
4 Force of Will
2 Transmute Artifact
1 Toxic Deluge
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Cursed Totem
1 Trinisphere
2 Lodestone Golem
1 Tsabo's Web
1 Misdirection
1 Damnation
1 Echoing Truth
1 Engineered Plauge
Sleeved it up and took it to a local Legacy day. Only had 6 players show, so couldn't get it sanctioned, but it gave me a day of playtesting.
Pre-event
Test game against Shardless. He mulled to 5, but kept a hand with T1 discard. I kept a hand with fast mana, a Sword, Blue Tezz, and a Transmute. His T1 Duress ate my Transmute, and his subsequent Hymn took my Tezz. He attritioned me out slowly. Didn't finish the game, but an active Jace with Decay backup is tough to fight through.
Round 1
vs. 8-Rack
Game 1 I stick a T1 chalice on 1 and he gets sad. Draw lots of mana for a few turns, then stick thopter sword and he scoops when the 10th token hits the table. Game 2 I don't know what he's on other than Swamps, so I board in some GY hate. I start with a Leyline on turn Zero. He hits me Hith a Duress and takes my Chalice. He poxes away both of our landbases and hands, but I win the topdeck game and get enough mana-rocks to stick Blue Tezz and fetch Helm for the win.
(1-0)
Round 2
vs. ANT
Game 1 he Discards my Chalice turn 1. I don't draw into any more hate before he can storm out on turn 3.
Game 2 I mull to 5, keeping mana rocks and a Tezz Seeker. I topdeck a quick Chalice on 1 to slow him down a few turns, then cast a Chalice for 0 and stick Tezz to fetch 3Sphere. I think I'm set to start slowly grabbing combo pieces, but he's able to Decay 3Sphere and Chalice on 1 next turn. He Storms before I can rebuild defenses.
(1-1)
Round 3
vs. Storm
Game 1 I T1 Chalice on 1, then T2 Sword and T3 Transmute into Foundry. Not sure which storm variant he's on, so I just board in 3Sphere and Lodestone, with Leyline Helm to get around Past in Flames.
Game 2 I T1 Chalice, then natural draw T2 Sword and T3 Lodestone. In a few turns, I find a Foundry and he scoops.
(2-1)
All in all, happy with the day. Feel a little bad losing to ANT, but sometimes Decay ruins your day. I'm liking how the deck runs so far, and excited to see how it does in a wider meta. Definitely need to figure out a plan for Shardless... gonna be adding The Abyss to the sideboard when I can afford one or two.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=85787
No Swiftspears. 4x DeathRite. Only 3x Pyromancer. 4x Wasteland but No Stifle. Any thoughts?
In no particular order...
1. Be clean, un-cluttered, and set up for games. I came to play, I shouldn't have to go find a table from a stack in the corner and set it up myself. That should all be ready before the doors are unlocked.
2. Clean functional bathroom.
3. Easy access to inventory. I want to know what you have so that I can buy it. I'm fine with looking through boxes or binders, but have some organization to it beyond "here's the boxes of Magic singles... they're not sorted at all."
4. Working Climate Control. Granted, in a small shop, if there are a lot of people, it gets hot. That's fine. But the AC should at least be trying to keep up.
5. Have multiple event formats. I don't like to draft. If every event you hold is Limited, I won't be playing in your events and you've lost my dollars.
6. Listen to your players. Your players pay your bills. If they indicate that they want to try Modern, give Modern a run for a few weeks and see if it sticks. If they request more Sealed, try that. If players complain about entry fees, compromise by lowering fees, but reducing prize support. Find what your players want, and give it to them. They'll keep coming back.
7. FURNITURE!!! It's part of the cost of business. You will need tables and chairs. They will need to hold the weight of players. They will wear out and break. They will need to be replaced. REPLACE THEM.
8. Treat your Judges fairly. If you can manage to get a staff member to become a Judge, Great! If you sign on "freelance" judges, awesome! Either way, treat them fairly. Compensate them for their time. 3 packs payment for running your 30 player midnight pre-release and not playing is not adequate reimbursement for their time.
9. Have a calendar, stick to it, update it, and make it public. Online is probably best, but in some way make it evident what is happening and when.
10. If you start running competitive REL events (PPTQs, IQs, etc.), communicate with your local judges BEFORE setting a date. Especially in areas where L2 judges are in short supply, scheduling a PPTQ only to find that you can't get a judge for that weekend is asking for disaster.
11. Once you announce prize support for an event, stick to it. If the prizes are in product, make sure you have that much product on hand, set aside so it's not sold. If it's for Cash (SCG IQs, etc.), set aside cash in the office somewhere that your employees can't accidentally use it for purchasing cards for your buylist.
12. Either have access to food inside the shop (snack bar) or find a location with easy access to quick meals.
I have more, but I feel like this is starting to get rant-y, and I don't want that. I'm sure you've gotten more suggestions above that I'd be repeating.
Best of luck with your venture. It's always exciting when a new shop comes to town.
Rudy Briksza Deck Tech
I'm not saying that's how the deck should be built. I was answering the above poster to whether Bob is NECESSARY. Which, I still feel, he isn't. But he's definitely good and a better option than many other cards that could take that slot.
Anyway... back to actual constructive things about the deck itself. I'm still debating whether Vault of the Archangel is useful in the Mardu build.
Play Skuller, then sac him with his first ability on the stack. The second ability (return it to their hand) will resolve before you exile anything. Then, the first ability will resolve and you'll exile the card permanently.
With Butcher out, it's basically a 2 mana "give Butcher Lifelink, exile a card from opponent's hand" sorcery.